As part of my duties for Laughlin Associates, I travel around the country speaking to business owners about the importance of corporate or LLC compliance. Once one of these companies is formed the owners have ongoing responsibilities to document the decisions that these companies make. I try to teach that to people.

But one person will ask the question that the entire room is interested in learning: How can I make my business more successful and make more money? They usually follow it up with discussions about websites, blogs, or marketing. It seems that the perception is the only way to be more successful in business is to get more clients. That is logical, more clients equals more money. I get it. However, your business could be more successful without gaining another new client. What I try to tell them is that there is wealth hidden in your business that you don’t realize.

A recent study conducted by the federal government estimates that the average business owner over pays their taxes. Not by a little, but by a whopping $11,600 per year. Think about that. What could you have done with an extra $11,600?  How many additional clients would you have had to get to “net” that extra income? So why do we over pay? It’s simple. We don’t know the rules.

Taxes are such an interesting topic to hear from business owners. They seem to fear it. People will tell me the tax code is too complicated to learn, or that their CPA takes care of the taxes for the business. The responses seem to indicate an implied waiver of the reasonability, or a genuine fear of the topic itself. But no matter what you do in your business, you will always be more successful with just a little bit of tax education.

Now if I suggested to you that you need to learn the entire tax code that would be intimidating. But a little knowledge goes a long way here. All business owners have basic deductions that are available to them. This is true regardless of your business structure. They are: Entertainment, Travel, Gifting, Home Office, and Vehicle. Many of us take these deductions now. However, when I ask people about these rules I hear a lot of different and conflicting stories. As a result, how could a business owner be confident in claiming a deduction if they didn’t know the rules? Further, how assertive could you be if you didn’t know the particulars of the rules? Therefore, what happens next is deductions don’t get claimed and overpayment of taxes is the end result. Boy that fear can be crippling!

So how do you stop this? You decide that you can learn it! The tax code is not as complicated as people think. This is especially true in regards to the deductions we discussed above. As part of our paper work program we offer clients the tools and education to learn these deductions and many more. So if you have an opportunity to get involved with our compliance service I would strongly recommend it because this is something that we offer those clients. Also I can suggest a couple of publications that might assist. Sandy Botkin, CPA puts out an excellent series of books and CD’s on business taxes that are great. And of course, you can also log onto the IRS website and download their publications.

I learned an expression some time ago that I think is quite fitting here. Someone once told me that the definition of fear is: indecision plus doubt equals fear. I like that. If you don’t know what the IRS is expecting from you that can create indecision. Claiming a deduction your not sure about is creating doubt, so you don’t claim it. So of course you have fear. But remember F.E.A.R. is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real.

It is not too complicated, and it is well worth the investment. Remember you can conquer anything you put your mind too. I know you can do it!

Scott Burnett is a highly acclaimed corporate trainer and Laughlin Associates’ Director of Education.  He will be speaking at these locations and at our July Seminar in Lake Tahoe.

The other day as I was having a conversation with my aunt who is a hair stylist, she was telling me how she pays to rent the space she uses to cut hair.  She also has to pay for her own supplies and pays a percentage of her services to the owner of the salon. She was a little surprised when I said, “Congratulations on running your own business.” She never made the connection between her work and being a business owner. She was so focused on the service that she never took the time to understand what being a business owner could mean to her.

In our business, we talk to many people in the same situation.  They don’t give themselves credit for running their own business. They work in a variety of professions; independent contractors, consultants, day care providers, technicians, multilevel marketers, or they might even work for someone else but also run a part-time business.  Well, if you have income coming from other sources beside W-2 income, you might be a business owner with all the benefits that come with it.

“You would be brain dead not to start your own business,”  says Sandy Botkin, CPA, Esq.

The IRS wants to give you credit for running your own business. As a business owner you get all sorts of tax deductible benefits from the government.  If you take it one step further and incorporate your business, then you really start to see some savings…no more self-employment tax, 100% tax deductible medical reimbursement plans, paid life insurance, not to mention the liability protection a corporation can provide you.

So go ahead…admit you’re a business owner. Now take the time and really understand what that means to you and the best way to structure your business to take the greatest advantage of being a business owner.

Forming Nevada Corporation – Timing is Everything

If you are considering forming Nevada Corporation, you need to understand the process of business incorporation on every level. You should take the time to figure out the rules and regulations required by Nevada state law, and ensure that you have what it takes to form an actual corporation that can be successful in the state of Nevada. Forming Nevada Corporation is not something that will be terribly easy, unless you are truly prepared and well educated on the subject of business incorporation. However, there are many professional resources out there for those who are less informed, to help you every step of the way.

One of the key things to her member when forming Nevada Corporation is that timing plays a big role in your success. If you incorporate at the wrong time, you might suffer in your business success. When you do incorporate at the right time, however, you will reap the rewards of your decision for many years to come. Many people don’t understand when it’s time to incorporate their business. If you’ve got your point where your business is very large, has a lot of assets to protect, and has employees that need to be taken care of, then you’re probably getting close to incorporation if you’re not already past the point that you should have done it.

Forming Nevada Corporation is not an easy task, but it is one that you can undertake with confidence when you take the time to educate yourself on the subject. After all, and the fear and uncertainty that you feel about incorporating your business will easily be quelled when you become more educated on the subject. Knowledge and understanding is the key to successful business incorporation, no matter how big or small company you are incorporating.

If you’re truly serious about forming Nevada Corporation, you need to take the time to learn about the process, paperwork, and everything that you need to do as a business owner to incorporate your business. You should also embrace any and all professional resources that are offered to you or that you come across so that you can have the best chances of success in your incorporation. Although there is not one strict and proven method that works for every business, there are certain rules and regulations need to be followed regardless of the path that you take in incorporation. By following these guidelines, you will be much more successful in the end.

Nevada Corporation – Starting a Business

Starting a Nevada Corporation provides you with many different benefits as a business owner. There are legal benefits, financial benefits, tax benefits, and even asset protection that can offer you much more than you ever thought. Nevada is one of the best states to incorporate in because they have a great process and many different benefits to their incorporation. Everyone is looking to protect their assets as much as they possibly can. Incorporating a business in Nevada will give you the most protection and privacy in your business that you could have ever asked for.

In most cases of a Nevada corporation, the corporate owners will be protected from lawsuits and personal asset losses. The goal of the Nevada corporation law is to reduce state taxes and protect the assets of the state. Doing this offers people a more secure and surefire way to make the most of their business no matter how big or small it may be. There is no personal income tax, no corporate tax and no franchise tax on income in the state and Nevada. This makes owning a business much easier than it might have been before. It also makes it much more beneficial, which is what a lot of people are looking for.

A Nevada corporation can sign contracts for as long as they like and get the licensing that they need whenever they need it. However, you must keep in mind that there are different levels of incorporation, and ultimately choose what is best for you. A lot of celebrities and popular companies are packing up and moving to Nevada solely for the benefits that are offered, making it a popular place to do business. The nice thing about a Nevada corporation is that shareholders do not have to be US citizens, and the identities of them are not even disclosed as part of the privacy and asset protection plan that the state has in place for all business owners.

In actuality, the directors of each Nevada Corporation don’t have to be US citizens or stockholders either. It doesn’t matter why the corporation issue stock, because there are many different options to choose from. All of the stock activity that goes on in a Nevada corporation happens within the company and is not affected by external sources. Therefore, these businesses are not as easily affected by the market of the rest of the world. All of these reasons make it very beneficial to start a Nevada Corporation.

Forming Nevada Corporation – Structured Business Operations

When it comes to forming Nevada Corporation, there are many different things that you need to think about and consider to ensure that you are the right track to business success. Having a structured business through incorporation will allow you many more securities and benefits in your business then you might have had otherwise. There are many amazing benefits to incorporating in the state of Nevada, which brings many savvy entrepreneurs every year who are looking to make the most of these advantages. However, there are also certain rules and regulations that have to be followed, which means that you will need to take the time to learn about the process before you get in over your head.

If you’re interested in forming Nevada Corporation, you’re going to have the most luck by working with professional services that are provided to you. After all these people are specifically trained to be professionals in the incorporation services industry, which makes them much more helpful than any other entity that you can consult about forming Nevada Corporation. If you try to do it on your own, you can easily set yourself up for failure beginning, because you may not understand all the details of incorporation or how it can work for you.

You should first take the time to educate yourself about forming Nevada Corporation before you dive in to incorporating your business without knowing what you’re getting into. Doing this will allow you to start off any more prepared manner, and make the most of your business every single time. After all, all of the overwhelming information and confusion that you might experience can easily be solved by simply researching Nevada incorporation rules and regulations. The more you learn about incorporation, the fewer unknowns you will run into along the way.

People that are new to forming Nevada Corporation generally make some very simple mistakes when they try to attend the process of their own. From something as simple as not issuing stock to a more serious discrepancies such as not having adequate proof that your business actually operates in Nevada, some a little things can go wrong if you are prepared and don’t have the right professional resources to help you out. Keep these tips in mind when you start out on your Nevada incorporation process, and it will likely be much easier for you to succeed in the long run.